Public Roundtables: Protecting Consumers in the Sale and Leasing of Motor Vehicles, Project No. P104811 #00080

Public Roundtables: Protecting Consumers in the Sale and Leasing of Motor Vehicles, Project No. P104811 #00080

February 29, 2012 8:43pm

Submission Number:

00080

Commenter:

Gregory Reichenbach

Organization:

Attorney at Law

State:

Ohio

Initiative Name:

Public Roundtables: Protecting Consumers in the Sale and Leasing of Motor Vehicles, Project No. P104811

Please consider this comment and the attachments a supplement to my original comment, submission # 56. One attachment is the jury verdict forms for a civil case I referred to in my original comment: Marston v. Donley Ford of Galion, Inc., rendered in Crawford County, Ohio on Dec. 1, 2011, Case No. 10 CV 0193. The other attachment is the judgment entry on the jury verdict. We also have recordings of telephone calls made by Donley Ford of Galion to the Plaintiff, threatening to report the car as stolen, and the 911 call by a Donley Ford employee to the Galion Police Department, attempting unsuccessfully to report the Plaintiff's vehicle as stolen. The jury (and the court) found that Donley Ford of Galion, Inc. "committed an unfair, deceptive or unconscionable act by telling Plaintiff she had to bring the car back or they would report the vehicle to the police as stolen," "committed an unfair, deceptive or unconscionable act by reporting the vehicle to the police as stolen," and "committed an unfair, deceptive or unconscionable act by informing Plaintiff that Capital One Auto Finance had approved her financing." The jury made certain other findings as can be seen on the verdict forms. It has been my experience that a large number of similar incidents occurs regularly, but are seldom brought to trial for a number of practical reasons. This is why I believe it is important to share this trial result with you, and why it is important that the FTC take strong action to try to prevent and discourage this common dealer tactic.